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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26065615">A Past Full of Darkness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masane/pseuds/Masane'>Masane</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Darkness [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Senki Zesshou Symphogear, Tales of Berseria</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Smarter Tachibana Hibiki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:59:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,824</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26065615</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masane/pseuds/Masane</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Where there is misfortune, fortune is never far, Tachibana Hibiki knows this fact very well.</p><p>Living her life as a highschool student at Lydian Academy, she will face a change she is not ready for, or maybe she is.</p><p>Thankfully, she can counts on the help of her closest peoples, two women whose advice never failed to help her.</p><p>But how much does she know about them exactly ? (On Hiatus)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tachibana Hibiki &amp; Origami Hikage &amp; Velvet Crowe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Darkness [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892206</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tachibana Hibiki is the type of person to see the positive in the negative, or rather, she notices that misfortune and fortune go together, living means experiencing both, whether we like it or not.</p><p>Per example, this one time when her family planned to go to the theatre together, she ends up getting sick that day and her family decides to not going and spend the day at home nursing her, despite telling them she would have been fine on her own and especially since it was the last airing of the show, she took it hard the following week being the cause of everyone missing the play. In the end, it was decided that they will all go to the amusement at the end of the week, she got a lot of fun and forgot all about the theatre.</p><p> </p><p>There’s also the time of the Zwei Wing Concert Tragedy, she had been asked out by a boy at that time, was meant to be her first date, but in the end, it didn’t show up because of some family issues. The Live was awesome, it was her first time seeing one, after all, then a Noise outbreak occurred, peoples died, well everyone died, the one who survived was her, one of the idols and two other women that she thinks to have briefly seen during the chaos. She told the doctors about being saved by the two idols who actually fought the Noise, but they all blame her near-death state for saying such a ridiculous thing, she was smart enough to stop trying to convince them afterward, she didn’t need the doctors to think she was crazy when she was already lucky enough to still being alive. She was alive!</p><p> </p><p>Her rehabilitation was another one of these moments; during the tragedy, what almost killed her was not the Noise, but a debris that pierced her in the chest, fragmenting itself inside her, with some even lodging near her heart, the surgery to remove most of them was successful in which the doctors managed to save her life, but those closest to her heart couldn’t be touched without endangering her life in doing so. They were also unable to tell her what was inside her body, but she suspected they didn’t even care about it since the remaining still in her was not harmful to her and somehow hinted to her that she should do the same. In the end, she left it at that, since she had other things to take care of, like being able to walk again, it was difficult, relearning how to do simple movements that she mastered a long time ago made it extremely frustrating at each fails. It was after another difficult session during her first week of rehab that she met the two women, there were here for a regular checkup since they didn’t have any injuries despite being found under the rubbles, as fellow survivor they decide to stay with her during her whole rehab, supporting and keeping her company until she was discharged, even giving her a special drink, telling her it will help her make a full recovery faster, and it did, the short time spent with the two women was the best thing during her rehab, it was just too bad they never exchange contact info.</p><p> </p><p>People resenting and hating her was the worst, she survived a Noise outbreak, almost die during the surgery to save her, going through countless hours of rehabilitation to make a full recovery and go back to her family, her home… but her reward was a simple compensation from the government, which while assuring the life of her family, certainly didn’t do anything good for them otherwise, her home was constantly covered of tags to the point they gave up cleaning them up, rocks thrown through their windows, the bullying at school, with the boy who initially invited her avoiding her like a plague, and without forgetting about her father leaving them, the coward, by that time she was really wondering how things could get better from here and was starting to lose hope. It happens one day when she was cornered by a group of men, all having lost a daughter and were intending to do who knows what to her, one moment she was cowering in fear in the corner of the alley, the next one she was seeing the men being savagely kicked, slammed against walls and stomped until they all laid unconscious at the feet of one of the women she friended at the hospital while the other silently watched with a hard look on her face worse than the one who actually beat them. Let’s just say, that day, Hibiki saw the worst and the best in humanity… the reality would reveal herself to be far different than what she originally thought at that time, but it’s for another time.</p><p> </p><p>So, yeah, Tachibana Hibiki dealt with a lot of crap during her life, especially in the aftermath of the Zwei Wing Concert Tragedy, but what she got at the end far outweigh what she had to go through before it came, she could even say proudly that she loves her current life and what she was able to become since meeting with the two women who change her life. But now… currently she is at a loss of words to her current situation.</p><p>Today was the release of the CD of her favorite idol, even if it is directly linked to the tragedy, her songs are still amazing, so she had planned to get it in local, the first edition always offering bonus contents, she was on her way to the store selling it in high spirit, and it was because of that she didn’t pay much attention to her surrounding, the lack of people, the strangely silent area and of course the piles of carbon ashes forming human silhouette, all signs of a Noise outbreak. The logical thing to do would be to turn back and get the hell out of here as fast as she could, after all having one near-death experience with the Noise was already plenty, she intended to do so, but the piercing cry for help of a girl is what changed Hibiki’s mind, leaving her schoolbag behind she rushed into the direction of the scream.</p><p> </p><p>The little girl she found was running with her for a while now, as they desperately tried to escape the Noise following them and seemed to appear right in front of them when they think they had succeeded in putting some distance between them. It’s how the both of them end up on the roof of a random building in the middle of a factory a bit away from civilization, Hibiki carried the girl on her back while climbing the surprisingly long ladder. A short-lived relief, as the next moment the group of Noise was with them on the rooftop closing to their position the little was hugging Hibiki desperately while she was glaring at them.</p><p>
  <em>Balwisyall Neschell Gungnir Tron</em>
</p><p>Those strange words came to her in this desperate situation, honestly, she was already going to die, so singing meaningless word could not make her situation worse.</p><p>Well, not worse, but certainly weirder, after all, singing, then being surrounded by a light as well as feeling as if every cell in your body were remodeled anew was certainly uncomfortable and even a bit painful. When it was finally over, she could feel herself at the same time powerful as well as a sudden urge to destroy.</p><p>The latter was actually not something new to her, during the time she was bullied, she had felt more than once the desire to just give them back as much as she receives from her tormentors, the desire becoming even bigger after she began her training. Calming herself by doing some slight meditation during this dire moment, she relaxes herself a bit as she takes in her situation.</p><p>“Wow, Onee-chan! You look so cool!” the little girl says, reminding Hibiki of her presence.</p><p><em>‘Right, I’m actually trying to save this girl as well as myself from the Noise currently in front of us and surprisingly not moving… yet’</em> She thought before taking a looks at herself once she thinks to the little girl words; Looking down at herself she was puzzled by her current attire, she was wearing an orange, black and white leotard, sleeveless and stopping mid-thigh, black armored boots stopping to her knee and white gauntlet on her forearms with pieces of white armor covering her knuckles and the something similar to her leotard, entirely black, covering her fingers and up to her elbows.</p><p>Hibiki’s eyes widen at a realization, <em>‘Doesn’t it somehow look like the same as Amou Kanade, she was able to fight with the Noise without turning to carbon ashes at their contact… should I try it?’ </em>She eyed the Noise surrounding her before her eyes land once more toward the little girl, <em>‘Better not, I least not like this unless I’m willing to abandon her, which I’m not, especially after the pain to rush to her side in time and desperately trying to save her until now, if I was willing to let her die I wouldn’t have got myself involved in the first place.’</em></p><p>Deciding her next course of action, Hibiki close the distance between the little girl and herself, she was surprised that her new armored boots came with heels but quickly get the hang of it, at least when it comes to walking, running will be another matter altogether, she then put herself at eye level of the girl, “How about we get away from her?” she asks the girl, <em>‘If what I saw that day was real, then I should be able to jump from the building and get away from them until we are safe, I could always come back later to test whether I can kill them or not.’ At her question, and after being reminded of the presence of Noise, the little girl nods her head eagerly.</em></p><p>The moment Hibiki was going to take the girl in her arm, that the Noises begins to react, snapping her attention to them as she put herself between the girl and them, one of them, an orange humanoid alike Noise, charge at them, or rather, put its arms forward before becoming some kind of projectiles, shooting itself on them.</p><p>Hibiki has to act fast, while she could easily dodge the attack coming at her, the girl behind her wouldn’t be able to do the same, not having a choice, and mostly acting on instinct to something threatening hurtling toward her, Hibiki lifts her leg into a side kick, the Noise unable to change its course after launching itself could only come crashing right into Hibiki’s armored foot as carbon ashes explode in all directions, the girl watching in awe as to what just happen.</p><p><em>‘Well, here’s my answer to if I can kill Noise or not,’ </em>Hibiki thought with a composed face, and her leg still lifted before slowly putting it back on the ground.</p><p>The sudden death of their fellow being seem to surge the other Noise to take action, blue blob alike and orange humanoid alike Noise starts charging at the girls, but Hibiki didn’t wait for them, taking the other girl in her arms, she starts running, a bit awkwardly at first because of the heels, until she found the right angle with each step to keep it without losing her balance, “Close your eyes,” she says once at the edge of the rooftop before jumping a bit before letting herself fall.</p><p>Hibiki lands on the ground a bit hard, at least it was her original thought when she saw the small crater her landing caused, but that was all, only her landing point suffered, her legs were not shaking or anything, she was perfectly fine, the girl with her as well. While her only reference that it would be fine about doing something as crazy as jumping from a building was what she saw the day of the Zwei Wing Concert Tragedy, as Amou Kanade, one of the wing was able to jump far higher than humanly possible and landing once again on the ground without inconvenience.</p><p><em>‘So, basically, my physicals abilities are enhanced and I kill Noise… Well, let’s get away first and think about all this in detail later,’ </em>finishing her thought Hibiki looks up to where the Noise were before she had to jump to the side to avoid those hurtling at her.</p><p>Skidding on the ground after her somersault, Hibiki scans her surrounding, <em>‘If I could just find a place where she could be safe, I would be able to deal with the Noise right away,’</em> the moment she finishes the thought that a blue Noise was already jumping at her, a bit angry at being attacked once more, Hibiki holds the girl a bit tighter before performing a reverse spinning kick, successfully getting rid of the Noise as carbon ashes falls around them.</p><p>Retaking another, harder, look to her surrounding, Hibiki’s found the fire escape stairs she notices during her movement to kill the Noise, not losing any second Hibiki jumps to the third level of the stairs and put down the girl, “Onee-chan will take care of the Noise, just wait for her here or scream if they come near, alright?” the little girl nods to Hibiki.</p><p>“Be careful Onee-chan!” Hibiki nod back, giving her a confident smile before jumping back from the girl position, landing not far from the group of Noise, she then runs toward them, now perfectly used to the heels implemented to her armored boots but getting the hang of it during this dire situation.</p><p>Once close to them, she jumps toward the closest one, killing it with a simple kick before landing in the center of their formation, or at what could look like a formation, looking at them surrounding her while she stands with a hand on her hip, Hibiki lets out a smile, <em>‘Who would have thought that my first real fight would be against Noise while wearing a super armor, well, no need to hold back,’ </em>finishing her thought Hibiki deliver a fast front kick to the humanoid Noise in front of her, she then quickly go for the next one, performing a spinning kick that cut it in two, making her realize that they are worth nothing and that she gets a better challenge during training.</p><p>Hibiki gets rid of them with ease, one after another, kick, dodge, sweep, stomp and counter and repeat. Before she knew it she was stomping on the last one, watching it as it becomes another pile of carbon ashes around her.</p><p>“Not even a good workout,” Hibiki laments herself, “She didn’t scream for me, is this girl okay?” as she was looking to where she left the girl, Hibiki was suddenly hugged by the side, her body tensing up at the unexpected contact.</p><p>“You did it Onee-chan! You beat them all!” hearing the voice of the little girl, Hibiki’s body relaxes once more, still, she berates herself for not only letting her guard down but also to be taken by surprise by a child.</p><p>Putting a knee on the ground as to be on the same level as the girl, Hibiki takes the girl face in her hand, “Didn’t Onee-chan told you to wait for her? Another group could have been lurking around, you know?” she says, scolding the girl but with a soft smile for her to know she wasn’t really upset.</p><p>“You mean like this one Onee-chan?” the girl points with her finger, Hibiki follow to where the girl was pointing, to see another group of Noise but this time accompanied by a green giant one as big as the building they climbed and with pincer at the end of its arms.</p><p>Sighing, “Yeah… just like this one.”</p><p>“No worry, I’m sure Onee-chan can beat them all too,” the little girl says with a confident smile, <em>‘Whoa… Is that how adult feels when being pressurized to do the impossible by their children? Did I unknowingly do the same to mine?’</em></p><p>The sound of a motorbike cuts through their conversation, as the two girls look in the direction of the sound, the biker pass them, not without Hibiki seeing the figure on it as she got a glimpse of the person since she wasn’t even wearing a helmet, a blue mane of her hair, that she could surely recognize anywhere.</p><p>“Kazanari Tsubasa?” Hibiki mutters.</p><p>The biker didn’t slow down, knocking over Noise on the side as she driving through them, she then jumps from the motorbike letting it finishes its course, crashing against the giant Noise leg.</p><p>
  <em>Imyuteus Amenohabari Tron</em>
</p><p>Those strange words were heard just before the blue-haired girl was engulfed in a light, <em>‘Ahhh… so those strange words I sang earlier is some kind of activation key to unlock this power,’ </em>Hibiki muses as she watches the idol, the second wing and partner of the deceased Amou Kanade, wearing a black, blue and white attire as she runs toward the group of Noise as she draws a sword seemingly out of nowhere.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Insert Song - Zettou Ame no Habakiri</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>What followed was actually worth watching, as Kazanari Tsubasa sang, her sword somehow became bigger before she launches a wave of blue energy with a downward swing, decimating the Noise in its way, she then jumped in the air before conjuring several swords that came raining on them, impaling them, she finally took care of the rest by swinging her sword as well as the ones of attached to her legs. The giant Noise got a treatment worthy of its size as it was impaled by a sword as big as it was with the one conjuring it standing at the top.</p><p>The fight must have barely lasted a minute and the girl at Hibiki’s side was watching in awe for a moment before she turned to her, “I think Onee-chan was cooler because she didn’t need to use any weapon,” Hibiki could only chuckle at her word.</p><p> <em><strong>End Insert Song</strong></em></p><p>Moments later, the place was filled by what Hibiki assumed were members of the Special Disaster Response Team, some could be seen cleaning the remains of destroyed Noise, others taking data, some taking care of refugees and interrogating other people.</p><p>Hibiki was watching from afar, arms crossed under her chest, the girl she manages to save, drinking something with a smile.</p><p>Her attention was diverted to a woman walking toward her, once close she hands her a cup of a hot beverage, “Here a warm drink,’ she says as Hibiki takes the hot beverage, offering a small thank before the woman left her to attend someone else.</p><p>Hibiki was looking at the drink but refusing to take a sip of it. <em>‘Official government, there is no way that they don’t suspect anything with my current attire, they are surely preparing something.’</em></p><p>The aftermath of the Zwei Wing Concert Tragedy caused Hibiki to not see the government in a very favorable light, aside for the “compensation” that caused her family a good amount of trouble for solving one thing, her faith in them was currently pretty weak and by the look of it, <em>‘if Kazanari Tsubasa is affiliated with the government it could mean that Amou Kanade was too, thus by extension Zwei Wing itself and in the very worst case; Lydian, the school I’m currently attending could be linked to them too… but that would be crazy.’</em></p><p>“Mama!” Hibiki exit her musing as her eyes lands once more on the little girl as she was running to hug her mother. They were then quickly approached by a woman, asking them to sign a document and saying something about non-disclosure of what happened.</p><p><em>‘Seem like I can go home now, the both of them must be worried about me, also I need to retrieve my bag where I left it,’ </em>Hibiki thought before looking around to which direction she should take.</p><p>She didn’t even take two steps that she was surrounded by people in black suits with Kazanari Tsubasa in the middle.</p><p>Hibiki’s eyes narrow at the situation, looking at the idol, “What is the meaning of this,” She asks with a calm voice, at least as calm as she could while hoping that what she expects from them wouldn’t occur.</p><p>“We can’t let you leave like this,” the blue-haired girl says without looking at Hibiki, causing the latter to glare at her.</p><p>“What do you mean by that?” Hibiki asks, really not liking where things were going.</p><p>“You come with us to Section Two of the Special Disaster Response Team,” the idol announces flatly, not leaving room for argument.</p><p>These words were the last straw, the cup that Hibiki was holding until now was crushed in her hands, the liquid spilling on them, she then throws the cup violently to the side, “I knew it, it’s better to have nothing to do with the government,” She says in low voice with greeted teeth.</p><p>Before anyone has the time to react she was running toward one side, dodging and pushing the people trying to catch her while they should know that even if they manage to lay a hand on her she could shake them off with ease.</p><p>Not wanting to try I luck even more, Hibiki jumps toward the rooftop of a nearby building, once on the top she took a glance around her to see in which direction her home was.</p><p>She finds it at the same moment she hears the activation song of the idol, deciding not to stick around Hibiki runs in the direction of her home, but mostly where civilization should be with the idol hot on her heels.</p><p> </p><p>Running, jumping while glancing behind to see if her pursuer was still there, Hibiki was actually glad that she was forced to learn parkour and kept on practicing occasionally after entering Lydian, without the agility gained with and the ability to instinctively take the shortest path, she would not have been able to avoid the attacks of the pursuer without losing her momentum causing the idol to grow more and more restless.</p><p>In the end, Hibiki was able to slowly increase the distance between her pursuer and herself, reaching an area which she was familiar with as well as the street still bustling with activity that would force her pursuer to stop any flashy attack. Instead of jumping to another rooftop, Hibiki lets herself fall between two of them and instead of running toward the street, she took off deeper into familiar alleyways.</p><p><em>‘If I want to hide among the crowd I need to get rid of this thing first, Kazanari Tsubasa could easily revert back, is it a question of mindset, I’ve been on edge since I’m wearing it, even more since the Special Disaster Response Team came, maybe I just need to relax and avoid any thought that would keep me on edge,’ </em>after theorizing, Hibiki comes to a halt, closes her eyes and take slower breaths as she tries to let go of the power she is currently wielding.</p><p>A flash of light was her sign that she succeeded, followed by a loss of balance at the sudden disappearance of the heels supporting her, thankfully she was not far from a wall as she puts a hand on it to stabilize herself.</p><p>Now with her main problem gone, Hibiki feels the pockets of her skirt to check if her phone was still on her, she releases of sigh of relief once she finds it still at its place before checking the time, “Good thing I never put it in the school cardigan.”</p><p>Now happy with herself, Hibiki makes her way back toward the bustling street, using the crowd to hide until she’s certain they couldn’t find her.</p><p> </p><p>She is now in front of a side of a building, she puts a hand to what seems to be a random place on the wall as she was waiting for the scanning to finishes, once done a door within the wall slides open. Once inside the door slides close before the elevator begins its ascension toward the only destination.</p><p>Her destination reached, the opposite door slides open, Hibiki walks inside the corridor, the whole level has many pieces but only one was home, the other being used for other purposes. Stopping in front of the first door for a moment, she analyzes her situation, <em>‘I’m late. And they always warn me to warn them when it’s the case…’</em></p><p>“Well, I have a good reason, just need to hope they will let me explain first," affirming her resolve Hibiki opens the door, “Hikage-san, Velvet-san, I’m home.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Origami Hikage & Velvet Crowe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After going home, Hibiki seeks the advice of her two favorite people.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for the late, took me more time than I thought it would after being distracted.</p>
<p>To those who want to put a face on my OC, <a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/toji-no-miko/images/6/66/Chara_yukari.png/revision/latest?cb=20180116203927">here's for you</a>, she is everything I wanted for my character appearance and more.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Origami Hikage is a 6ft tall woman with long luxurious black hair stopping at her knee, strands sweeping over, covering the left part of her face and eye, eyes of a fierce amber that seem to reveal anything on what they focus on and another strand of hair falling across her face in the opposite direction. Her divine figure complemented by the biggest pair of boobs Hibiki has ever seen in her short life.</p>
<p>Hibiki could see her from where she stands in the entranceway as she walks toward the living room. Hikage was casually sitting in the lotus position on the scarlet and purple couch, wearing her usual matching mauve sleeveless tight shirt and shorts while going over yet another one of her ‘files’ she refuses to tell her about, despite already been doing this each day since they came to Tokyo.</p>
<p>“Welcome home, Hibiki. I’m almost done with this last file, then you will have my full attention,” Hikage says without looking away from her tablet. “How about taking a bath first, you seem to have run quite a bit from what I can smell.”</p>
<p>Hearing those words, Hibiki reflexively brings an arm close to her nose, while she can admit being a bit sweaty, it should have already dried by now since she made her way back home by walking. So, even if she is, the smell should be faint and certainly not strong enough to reach Hikage when she is still a few feet away from her.</p>
<p>“Welcome home, Hibiki.” Hibiki’s attention was pulled away by the new voice as she turns her head toward the kitchen linked to the living room.</p>
<p>Velvet Crowe is a 5,9ft tall woman, with extremely long wild and messy black hair almost touching the ground when let loose, causing her to often roughly braiding them when at home for them to not graze the ground where she stands, she also has a smaller braid resting on her left shoulder, falling below her collarbone, warm golden-brown eyes almost giving a mother-like aura. While her figure is not as divine as Hikage, needless is to stay that she is equally gorgeous, a   chest bigger than her own, but not even close, compared to Hikage. But the most intriguing part concerning her is her left arm neatly bandaged, from her mid-upper arm to her very fingertips, despite being able to move it however she wants.</p>
<p>Velvet was wiping her hands on the red apron she was wearing, the sentence ‘Embrace the Calamity’ was written on it. “Also, Hikage is right, seem like you did go through some interesting events, making you lose your cardigan as well as your schoolbag,” She hints at the missing items with a movement of her head. “Take a good bath to wash off the dirt and put something comfortable, we will listen to your ‘good reason’ as to why you came back late over dinner,” Velvet winks at Hibiki at the last sentence.</p>
<p>Hibiki could only let a resigned sigh, it has been long ago since she has given up on finding the why of how Velvet and Hikage were capable of such a thing. After all, people with enhanced senses, who can hear even the softer whisper or mutter, lift with ease anything no matter how heavy we claimed it to be, smelling the faintest aroma and the more shockingly; keeping track of anything around them even without having an eye on it. Hibiki tried to confront them on this repeatedly at first, after a failed attempt at a sneak attack or pranking, which often result in her landing rudely on the ground to the complaints of her butt. Unfortunately, the only answer she will get from them would be ‘I’m a daemon’ from Velvet and ‘demon’ from Hikage, even if it’s a lie they could have come up with far better, also what’s the difference between a demon and daemon, they could have agreed at least on one common term.</p>
<p>Shaking her head at her situation, Hibiki decided to listen to the two women, the idea of relaxing in the bathtub more appealing at the moment. Pulling away from them, Hibiki opens the door linking the living room to a corridor with several doors. Doors opening to bedrooms, restroom and bathroom, the first door to her left being her own bedroom.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hikage and Velvet watch the door closes behind Hibiki, staying in silence for a bit until they heard a second door opening and closing, Hibiki’s bedroom.</p>
<p>Velvet golden brown eyes then land on Hikage. “So, what did you see?” she asks.</p>
<p>Hikage casually drops her tablet at her side before sighing and leaning her head against the back of the couch, the sound of doors opening and closing reaching her ears; the bathroom’s door, before she begins to talk. “After locating her and coming close enough to see her. She was being chased. Actually, doing more than fine on her own but I still gave her an extra help.” She then locks eyes with Velvet, a soft smile on her face. “We taught her well.”</p>
<p>Velvet scoffs at the remark, “Of course we did, anything else I should know?” she asks while heading back into the kitchen.</p>
<p>“Nothing that I will not tell Hibiki later, just wait for it a bit,” Hikage replies, taking her tablet before ordering files and pictures she will use later.</p>
<p>Contrary to what they had shown to Hibiki, both women were quite worried when they saw she was not back home yet and that neither of them received a message from her. Hikage was the one going out to look for Hibiki while Velvet stays at home in case she would be back while she was out.</p>
<p>When she found her, she was being chased and attacked. Hikage didn’t have any trouble seeing who it was from where she was standing, a hundred meters away. The interference she caused was just enough for the chaser to be distracted long enough to lose sight of Hibiki and giving up.</p>
<p>After confirming that Hibiki was safe and on her way home, Hikage hurriedly took off to come back before her.</p>
<p>Hikage lifts her eyes from her tablet to glance outside the bay window, watching the lights of the streets and building illuminating the night. “Things will clearly change from now on,” she says to herself, knowing Velvet heard her but choose to not say anything as she keeps moving in the kitchen.</p>
<hr/>
<p>After thoroughly cleaning her body, Hibiki was now soaking in the bathtub, moaning softly as she stretches her arms above her head before letting them fall back in the water, the events of this evening crossing her mind as she tried to make sense of everything that happens.</p>
<p>“I wonder if Hikage-san and Velvet-san would be able to help me in this too?” she voices her interrogation softly as her thought turns toward the two women living with her.</p>
<p>Her eyes then land on her breast, precisely the scar a little above between them. “It’s already been two years since I met them, I wouldn’t be who I am if they didn’t save me back then and stay by my side,” Hibiki mutters as she recalls the events of their first encounter outside the hospital with the duo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>Hibiki was passing the automatic doors of a convenience store to buy a snack, the negative comments from people recognizing her as one of Zwei Wing Concert Incident survivor went completely over her head after a month of hearing them. She paid for the Bonito Onigiri with the clerk giving her a small smile which she gratefully returns with one of her owns, the simple action putting her in a better mood as she exits the store, already eating one of her onigiri as she was walking back home humming.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>It’s when she was opening her second that she felt a hand firmly grasping one of her shoulders, stopping her dead in her track and rooting her body where she stood.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Then a voice accompanied by a foul smell reached her ear as well as her nose, the smell enough to make want to vomit the onigiri she has just eaten.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>A quick look around to delay facing the man shown her that the people seeing her in this situation weren’t going to do anything for her, even averting their eyes when they would meet hers.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Don’t bother asking for help. There no one that will lift a finger for you, you are well known after all. I could even beat you up right now and they would let me do it until the cops have no choice but interfere,” the man whispers sickly in her ear.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hibiki already knew that, hence why she didn’t bother. While there are probably people that certainly don’t think anything of her like the clerk earlier, most of the people would not even spare a glance at her. Yep, she was alone in this, not something very new.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Hey, pal! What are you doing?” another man calls out suddenly, increasing her worries.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>The man holding Hibiki turns his head toward the new voice’s owner. “Ah, guys! Look, I just found something really interesting,” he says before putting both hands on Hibiki’s shoulder and showing her to his friends.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Both men recognized who the girl was right away, quickly understood what their friend could have in mind at this moment before wide grins spread on their faces. “What do you plan to do with her?” one of them asks.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“I thought about beating her up to get some pent up anger first… But with you guys, maybe we can have some fun with her before, making her suffer from constantly reminding us of our lost daughters.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>These words strike fear into Hibiki’s whole body, if it was just her being beaten up she could probably take it until they grow tired of it, after all, it wouldn’t be that worse from school. But if they also plan to defile her, she had to get away as fast and as far as possible.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>The fear of how she would end up overcoming the one from moving, Hibiki throw her shopping bag at the face of the two guy before stepping on the foot of the one holding her by her shoulders, once free she ran as fast as she could into the nearby alley, hoping to lose the men chasing her in them.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>It didn’t work.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>After a good moment playing cat and mouse, she was now cornered. A single wrong turn in her haste leads her straight to a dead end with the three men already blocking the whole path from which she came from.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“We finally got you, you damn brat! You have nowhere to run now,” the leader says as they slowly close the distance, covering the length from one wall to another as to be certain she could not escapes them by sliding or squeezing her way out between them.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Soon she was encircled by the three men on one wall alongside the exit, eyeing the exit. Each attempt to squeeze her way out once she thought seeing an opening was futile as they forcefully pushed her back against the wall until she stops herself after hitting the back of her head against it, squeezing her eyes shut at the pain.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>When she managed to open them, a hand was approaching her. And with no way for her to escape Hibiki was resigned to her fate, looking at them defiantly, not even bothering herself in screaming or crying for help knowing that no one would come for her, but mostly, as to not give them this satisfaction.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Then to her shock and clearly hidden relief, the hand that was zooming toward her was swatted away, more accurately something flew toward it and smashed it away. The man hit by it yelping in pain as he was holding his injured hand with the other in a pathetic effort to alleviate the pain while the thing that hit him rolled at Hibiki’s feet.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>When Hibiki’s eyes fell to look at what saves her, she could only be confused by what it was. A can, what saves her was a can of apple juice.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>The sound of grunts of pain snaps Hibiki out from looking at the can. When her eyes landed once more in front of her, what was now unfolding was something she didn’t expect.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Velvet Crowe, wearing tight fit ripped black jean and a deep red tank top was smashing the face of one of the men with a kick, his body tossed hard against a wall, sliding the length of it until it was seated still against it, blood dripping from his nose and surely unconscious as he was motionless.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hibiki’s gaze was yanked away from the slack figure when Velvet-san’s was in front of her, back facing her. “Don’t worry, you two are next.” Just after those words were said that she rushed toward the other two men.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hibiki’s eyes were transfixed on the woman who was actually beating the hell out of the two men. So much focused on it that she didn’t notice the second figure at her side until she felt a hand softly land on her head. Looking up at the person who was gently stroking her hair, bringing a sense of comfort in her, Origami Hikage was equally wearing a tight fit black jean, but without any rips and a violet sleeveless dress shirt.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“It’s ok, you’re safe now,” Hikage said with a surprisingly gentle tone and a kind smile that Hibiki found almost unfitting from her despite not being the first time seeing the women having such expression on her face, the hand stroking Hibiki’s hair putting her at ease more and more. Then Hikage turns her attention toward the ongoing fight, at least if we can call two men being beaten up to a pulp a fight, her face morphing from a scowl to something so terrifying that Hibiki had to avert her eyes, whatever what Hikage-san was thinking couldn’t be anything good.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“You can stop, Velvet, you will kill them otherwise,” Hikage calls out to her friend nonchalantly.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>One of the two men was lying face down on the ground while the other had his face against a wall, Velvet raised foot holding it against it. “I don’t see any problem with that,” Velvet replied.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hikage let out a sigh. “It wouldn’t be too fair to them. After all, they are victims too.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Velvet scoffs at it her gaze not leaving the men she was pinning on the wall by his head with her foot. “Certainly doesn’t justify their action,” she counters.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Never said it did, but we need them alive and able to speak to serve as an example of what will happen to those wanting to aim for Hibiki-chan again.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>After a moment of thinking Velvet finally brought back her leg to the ground, the man pinned against the wall falling face-first to the side, “Are you alright Hibiki-chan?” Velvet asks once she meets eyes with the girl.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Feeling the tension fully leaving her body now, Hibiki fully leans back against the wall, taking comfort in the hand who never left her head as she looked at the state of the three men that were chasing mere moments ago. A feeling of disgust as well as anger and hatred to the point of wanting to beat them up some more herself filling her body before calming herself to look back at her two saviors. “A bit shook, but certainly better than them at least,” she answered before adding. “Thank, for saving me.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Velvet was impressed by the girl’s behavior, she knew that Hibiki was not someone to let things get to her easily when she thought about the girl during her stay at the hospital and seeing the girl going session after session of rehab. But, that even in such a situation she would be able to show such composure. “You are surprisingly composed, I think anyone in your situation would not be this calm and would probably be crying.” She couldn’t help but voice her thoughts to the little girl.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Crying wouldn’t have solved anything. Also, I certainly didn’t want to give them that satisfaction,” the girl answered fiercely, she then sighed before covering her face with a hand, “Though, I’m really glad that you two were here. How did you know I was here by the way?” Her gratitude turned to curiosity as she looked at the two women, wondering why both of them were in the alleys.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hikage is the one to respond, “Passersby were talking about the “survivor of the Incident” getting herself into trouble and we got curious about it.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Then, imagine our surprise when we stumbled into such a situation with you at its center,” continues Velvet.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“What a way to come back in town, eh?” Hikage asked sarcastically.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hibiki’s curiosity passes to confusion, “Wait, you mean the both of you were out of town, since when?”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hikage and Velvet looked at each other curiously before locking eyes with Hibiki once more, “Yeah, we already planned a one month trip after the concert, helping Velvet getting ideas for her café. I thought we told you about it after you were discharged, didn’t we?” Hikage explains.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Before Hibiki could say anything that she was interrupted by the grunt of the men lying around on the ground.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Taking a look around them and realizing the place wasn’t ideal to catch up, the two women decided to escort Hibiki back to her home and talking about everything that happens since they separated once there.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <strong>There were now at Hibiki’s house, seated in the living room around the table, Hikage and Velvet on one side and Hibiki seated between her mother; Tachibana Narumi and her grandmother; Keiko Natsuki on the other side.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Both women were listening as the family was telling them about everything concerning them following the month of Hibiki’s release from the hospital and thus what both women had missed since leaving for their trip.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Their expression becoming somber with each piece of information, how the government help was a simple, while big, but still, a simple financial compensation, caused them to be shunned by the neighborhood, unfair treatments at school for Hibiki, the father leaving the house after getting fired by his boss, said ‘boss’ had his daughter present during the Live and took it out on the father of the girl, and also the various, repeated damages and act of vandalism of the house.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>By the end of it, both women had by now a scowl on their face, Hikage’s more severe than Velvet as her arms were crossed below her chest as some kind of dark purple aura was faintly radiating from her body.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>She snaps out of it, noticing the fearful look of the family before Velvet had to butt in to calm her down. She then released a heavy sigh with her head hanging down briefly before straightening herself to talk. “Honestly, I would like to apologize for everything that happens to your family, and while I certainly can’t make things reverts to what there were, I can assure you that your problems will end soon, for all of you,” she announces as she locks eyes with each member of the family.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>The mother was the first one to recover from the collective shock at the woman’s unexpected words. “How and why would you help us?”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hikage opens to her mouth to answer, but to let it slightly hangs open, <em>‘Why?’ </em>she asked herself, she wanted to do it, she really wanted to help this family, but why? After all, it’s not like she owed them anything or something like that. She had only met them a few times over more than a month ago when she would visit Hibiki-chan, so why going out of her way to help them all?</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hikage couldn’t find a satisfying answer, causing the room to go into silence with the family of three waiting for an explanation while the other fails to provide one.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Seeing the situation unfold in front of her, Velvet couldn’t help but laugh softly seeing her friend’s momentum stopped by a simple question, causing all eyes to be on her. Taking a moment to calm down, she took a deep breath to settle herself. “A little sister,” she said, to the general confusion before explaining. “You see, both Hikage and I are big sisters with little brother. And the time we spent with Hibiki-chan at the hospital just reminds us how it is to take care of a younger sibling, I guess,” she finishes, smiling fondly at Hibiki.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“That’s all?” The mother asked a bit dumbfounded.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Well, to be honest… Despite the years we have been there, we didn’t really make any friends, a lot of acquaintances, yes, but no one which we could call friends. Talking to your daughters was actually the most meaningful conversation we got with someone in ages. So, yeah, there are not really any incredible reason behind it, Hibiki-chan just grows on us like a little sister to take care of and it’s simply impossible to abandon her and her family on their own after learning of your entire situation.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>The family looked at each other for a moment, the grandmother and granddaughter nodding at the mother when she meets them their gaze, releasing a sigh. “I can’t stop you, even if I would want to, right?” she asked, before giving a resigned smile. “Still, I would like to know what you have in mind to help us, especially concerning my daughter.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“I will let my friend, Hikage telling what she has in mind for you and her,” Velvet replied.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hearing her name snapped out said person from her own musing. Seeing the eyes on her and having actually no clue what’s going on, she could only ask. “What is it?” Earning a chuckle from her friend.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Narumi-chan asked us what we had in mind to help them ease their current situation.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>A look of realization was on Hikage’s face before she begins to talk. “Oh, well concerning the house. You don’t need to do anything. Leaving the details aside I will just say that I can create some kind of barrier around the house with some interesting effect, the principal one should be an auto-repair or something that will make it revert to its previous appearance by creating and saving it in the setting. For this, I will need to have a look at each room. I can’t do much about what the neighborhood thinks of you, but I certainly can prevent them to pick on you. But I guess all this is not as much important than Hibiki’s situation, right?” she asked after blabbering about the simpler issues.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Seeing the collective nod at her question, her eyes land on the concerned girl. “Hibiki-chan case is a bit more complicated to deal with,” she rapidly began to explain herself after seeing the collective concerned look and frown, “What I mean by it is that I can’t really interfere directly, kids will be kids and sometimes adults can’t be relied on even in those extreme case otherwise something would have been done long ago. The only thing I can do is giving Hibiki-chan the tools for her own protection.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“You want her to learn how to fight?” The grandmother asked with a visible frown on her face, not liking the idea of her granddaughter involved in fights.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Well, yes and no. What I’m willing to teach her is some basic self-defense moves, some advanced ones later and maybe more if she’s into it but, the goal is just enough for her to no longer being pick on by the other kids and to avoid risky situations before it’s too late, people can really be cruel sometimes,” She mutters the last absently.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>None of them really liked the idea. The grandmother and the mother share the viewpoint on it, not liking the idea of their little girl involved in fights but also recalling the times when she would come home with injuries and the way she would just brush it off by saying she would have ‘slipped’ in the stairs and that’s she was fine.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>On the other hand. Hibiki was thinking seriously about it, she originally wanted to reject the offer but what happen earlier came back to her, how powerless she was to escape the three men and that she was only safe and sound because of Velvet-san and Hikage-san saving her just in time. </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>As she recalls the display of power shown as the men were completely powerless while being beaten up by Velvet-san alone, she realized something about herself. She wants that power. The power to stand up for herself, people to stop picking on her because of something she didn’t have any control over and because she was an easy target, being able to come home without feigning or lying to be okay, but mostly she wanted to get back at them, able to hurt them back the next time they would pick on her. And Hikage-san is giving her this chance, the opportunity to get power to accomplish all this.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Decision made, she raised her voice with determination. “I will do it.” Her mother and grandmother must have a surprised expression on their face but all Hibiki care was Hikage-san eyes on her, eyes that seem to be expecting her answer even before she reached it.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Are you really sure about it Hibiki?” her mother asked.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Turning her eyes on her mother, Hibiki said. “Yes, mom. The school already took its side and it’s not mine, nothing will happen for me unless I take measures of my own, and a year with people ignoring me is better than one being pick on because I can’t fight back. So I will do it, I want to be able to protect myself from harm, after all, who knows if things will not escalate for the worse later.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“Seem like she has made her own decision, Narumi,” the grandmother said to her own daughter.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>The mother could only sigh to the words of her own mother, realizing she could no longer influence the decision of her daughter. “Can I count on both of you to take care of her?” she asked the two women.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Velvet smile. “I promise I will control both of them as to not go too far.”</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>“And I promise to do my best so that no broken bones or severe injuries will happen to Hibiki-chan,” Hikage said in turn, causing the family of three to sweatdrop and letting out an awkward laugh, not sure if the woman was serious or just joking.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>She was serious.</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>‘From there everything really began to change,’ </em>Hibiki thought as she was out of the bath and drying her body.</p>
<p><em>‘The barrier Hikage-san created had the auto-repair function she promised, any damages or degradation happening to the house would disappear as soon as they come until she improved it, making anyone with wicked thought toward us unable to found our house despite being in front of them and knowing its exact location. The neighborhood stopped bothering us and muttering when we would cross paths with them. And my situation at school greatly improve after enduring the training,’ </em>Hibiki keep thinking as she exits the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body and another on her head, drying her hair.</p>
<p>Pushing open her bedroom door and closing it once inside, Hibiki walks toward her bed. Then, let the towel around her body and on her head fall to the floor as she lays on her bed, the soft contact of her blanket against her bare skin as well as the temperature of the room sets to her preference helping her gather her thought.</p>
<p>After a moment she rolls on her back with an arm covering her eyes, thinking about her fight against the Noise and being chased by the idol Kazanari Tsubasa after refusing to follow her to whatever place she wanted her to. “Who would have known that my training to fight off bully would be used to kill Noise and getting away from a government organization,” Hibiki mutters to herself, not worrying that she could be heard since each bedroom were soundproof as long as the door was closed. Hikage-san mentioning something about giving us full privacy and being able to be as loud as we could without worrying to be heard, which admittedly Hibiki took full advantage of when pleasuring herself and she assumed that it was the same for both women as well.</p>
<p>Realizing that she lets her thought wandering too much and that she was making Hikage-san and Velvet-san wait, Hibiki quickly get off of her bed, heading straight to her wardrobe’s door, taking out her set of tight shirt and shorts, putting them on and forego wearing underwear, growing influence from living with those two amazing women with no shame exposing themselves and also because they will be too restrictive with this set molding perfectly her forms.</p>
<p>Once clad in her orange with thick black stripes on the side set, Hibiki exits her bedroom and go back to the living room. The piece was filled with a delicious aroma telling Hibiki what was on the menu tonight. A single look on the table and near the kitchen and Hikage was setting up the table while Velvet was bringing plates full of Curry.</p>
<p>The smell of rice hitting her nose more than enough to prompts Hibiki to sit at her place right away, just in time as Velvet puts her plate in front of her before sitting in front of her while Hikage was already seated at the head of the table between them.</p>
<p>“Mabo Curry, I was thinking of putting it on the menu, tell me what you think.”</p>
<p>Hibiki nods eagerly to Velvet’s word, anything including rice with always be a good meal for her, but since she was asked her opinion, she has to take the first spoonful before being able to leisurely dig in.</p>
<p>“““Itadakimasu!””” The three voices resonate in the living room before digging into their own plate.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Then I hid in the crowd and got home,” Hibiki finishes pretty happily and grinning.</p>
<p>The three of them were now in the living room, Hibiki in the middle of the couch and Hikage in the armchair adjacent to her with Velvet sitting on the arm. All three were nursing a cup of tea to digest the copious dinner while Hibiki was telling the events from earlier. From the moment she heard the cry for help to walk her way back home after fighting and fleeing the scene. The two women listened to the whole story without interrupting her, sometimes exchanging smirks between them or shaking their head in disbelief at some crazy decisions she took based only on a simple possibility or intuition, but the nodding she gets in the end, tells her that they weren’t upset, rather proud by what she had accomplished in her situation.</p>
<p>And she was rather proud of herself, too. How she handled this crazy situation and managed to get away from the idol who didn’t hesitate to use violence can really be considered a big win.</p>
<p>Velvet moves from her position beside her friend, to casually flop down beside the young girl, putting her hand on her head and gently stroking her hair. “You did well, Hibiki,” she says with a smile. “Glad to see that everything <strong>I</strong> taught you help you in this dire situation,” she continues throwing a smirk at Hikage.</p>
<p>Hikage could only roll her eyes while Hibiki shakes her head playfully at Velvet’s small antic. It happens ever since Hikage stopped training with both. And while Velvet should know why, it certainly doesn’t stop her from reminding them when she can.</p>
<p>“Indeed, you did very well,” she begins. “And I guess now you are wondering what you should do next from now on, right?”</p>
<p>Hibiki nods as an answer. “Yeah, I mean, while I know that they surely were the one to have most of the answers to my questions, I also didn’t want to just blindly go with them. There is also the fact that they didn’t seem to give me the choice, so running off and possibly pissing them off having successfully escaped them looked like a good idea at the time. But now… I pretty much paint a target on my back, right?” She asks insecurely.</p>
<p>“Well… yes and no.” Hikage begins before elaborating. “Will they look for you? Definitely. But are you in danger because of what you did? Certainly not.”</p>
<p>The words were pretty reassuring for the girl, while she knows that both Velvet-san and Hikage-san are capable to handle themselves, the fact that she could be the reason why their current life could be threatened is not something she wants.</p>
<p>“I will even say that they <strong>won’t</strong> do anything crazy for their own sake,” Hikage resumes, setting her empty cup on the table before standing up with her tablet in hand, tapping on it as she walks in front of them, just beside the giant flat screen for the two girls to look at.</p>
<p>Connecting her tablet to the screen, Hikage then looks at her two housemates. “Like the two of you surely noticed, I was looking through some files while I was staying at home and not much else.”</p>
<p>Velvet scoffs. “Some? You call reading files after files every day since we moved here ‘some’, you… ughhh, I don’t even know what to tell you,” she ends by shaking her head.</p>
<p>Hibiki decided to not say anything, what’s matter right now is what Hikage has to say. And if it can help her current situation, the better, which she has no doubt it will.</p>
<p>“Anyway,” Hikage begin talking once more. “What I was reading was actually everything that’s happened since I quit and that I needed to go through before taking my position back. You could say almost twenty years of information.</p>
<p>Hibiki’s eyes bulge out at the number before fumbling while asking. “T-tw-twenty years?”</p>
<p>“Yes, twenty years. And I can, actually, answer to any question you have concerning your situation, like the power you wield, why, how and even on Section Two,” Hikage explains.</p>
<p>“How come?” Hibiki asks still a bit stunned while Velvet kept a straight face waiting for Hikage to come back on the main subject.</p>
<p>“Well, they were actually more than just files, while mainly composed of reports on things like experimental tests and researches, new acquisition and other stuff. They were also other things like political, staff members and side organization… well pretty much <strong>anything,</strong> really. So, what do you want to know first?”</p>
<p>“Hmmm… Then this power in me that I used. The only time I saw something similar was the day of the Zwei Wing Live Concert Incident.</p>
<p>Hikage taps a bit on her tablet until the screen connected to it shows an image of a small long red crystal. “This is ‘FG-Type Revolutionary Specialized Armor’, also called ‘Symphogear System’ or just Symphogear for short. Developed and created by Sakurai Ryōko, the research published under the title ‘Sakurai Theory’.”</p>
<p>“Symphogear…” Hibiki repeats the word, testing how it rolls on her tongue when putting a name on her power.</p>
<p>“The Symphogear is actually a shard of a relic converted into a pendant like the one you can see,” Hikage explains while pointing to the screen before tapping again on her tablet causing the crystal to change shape. “With the right person singing to it, a unique energy wave to the relic, called ‘Phonic Gain’, will be generated and making it possible to activate it. The relic will then respond to the singer and she will be able to don the special armor. A unique weapon against the Noise, not disclosed to the public to avoid conflict with the constitutional law… the usual,” She finishes with a wry smile.</p>
<p>“A person who can harmonize with a relic is called ‘Candidate’. And someone who can wield the Symphogear an ‘Adapter’, that’s what you are Hibiki. Just like Kazanari Tsubasa. And Amou Kanade too, before she passed away.</p>
<p>Velvet and Hibiki’s both have a frown on their face, while the explanation was rather simple to understand even for the latter, it still bring an important question that Hibiki didn’t wait much to ask. “But I don’t have a pendant, so how can I wield a Symphogear if I don’t even have a relic?”</p>
<p>“About that…” Hikage trails off before showing the next image on the screen. It shows an X-ray scan of Hibiki’s upper body after her operation to save her life. She then zooms on the chest area, precisely her heart, where small white shapes could be seen near it. “You were on the field near where Kazanari Tsubasa and Amou Kanade were fighting the Noise and then were hit by something, piercing your chest near your heart, right?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, the doctor said they weren’t able to remove all the pieces because they were too close from my heart but weren’t life-threatening, though they never told me what it was… Wait you mean-”</p>
<p>“That’s the relic. What almost killed you <strong>and</strong> still reside inside you is a fragment of Amou Kanade’s Symphogear, a piece of the third relic; the offensive spear, Gungnir.” Hikage announces to the astonishment of her housemates, she was also surprised when putting together the info, so she can understand their shock.</p>
<p>“Wow… Gungnir,” Hibiki mutters, amazed at each piece of revelation.</p>
<p>“Now about this Special Disaster Response Team Section Two or just Section Two. The organization is pretty young, only ten years of existence until now, created and led by Kazanari Fudo, her grandfather” Hikage adds the last bit to answer to the potential question about the relation between the man and the idol before resuming. “After a scandal involving the loss of a relic, he then concedes his position to his youngest son, Kazanari Genjūrō, uncle. The raison d’être of the organization is mainly to take care of the Noise threat as well as conducting researches on relics, which lead to the Symphogear creation. Anyway, since the Concert Incident and the death of Amou Kanade, Kazanari Tsubasa is the only Adapter the organization has in its rank. So they will certainly try to get in contact with you to potentially recruit you or at least to officially introduce themselves first. And taking account of the stunt you pulled on them, they will try to clear up the misunderstanding on their part. After all, while they certainly wanted to meet you face to face to talk things out with you, alienating you because of poor choices of words while they know they can’t force you to work with them can’t lead to anywhere.” Hikage smirks.</p>
<p>Hibiki was now pondering over the information she just got, relaxed about the goal of the organization now after her. “So, what should I do when I confront them and ask me if I want to join them?” she asks.</p>
<p>“It’s your call on this. But know that whatever decision you decide on, we will be on your side,” Velvet tells her with a smile.</p>
<p>“Yeah. While we can’t decide for you, we can give you our support and, in my case all the information you should know about for you to be fully aware of what you’re involving yourself in as well as what you could expect. I even discover that the Zwei Wing Concert from two years ago was in fact part of an experiment.”</p>
<p>“An experiment!? On what?!” Velvet’s hard voice was heard the moment the words left Hikage’s lip, prompting Hikage to explain right away.</p>
<p>“Well, did the both of you get the whole part about a certain level of Phonic gain required to activate a relic?” Both girls seated firmly nod their heads. “Good, then from the report on it I got, it was said that they planned to use the Phonic Gain generated by Zwei Wing and the public to awoken the full relic ‘Nehushtan’, which they succeed until some complications caused an explosion to occur.”</p>
<p>Velvet’s voice was now dangerously low as she came to her own conclusion. “Are you saying that the Noise attack was becaus-”</p>
<p>Hikage interrupted Velvet by raising her hand. “No, the Noise outbreak at that time was just a big coincidence, at least I hope. As far as we know, A Noise outbreak is random. The explosion interrupting the concert first was caused by an overflow of Phonic Gain, shaking the stadium when it occurred and causing the first panic. An evacuation should have happened and then the government would have fed an excuse to calm the population and it would have been the end of it. Unfortunately, we got Noise just after but it was not related whatsoever to Section Two’s experiment.</p>
<p>“So, just a coincidence,” Hibiki said while exhaling a huge sigh of relief. She really was beginning to think that the government was directly at fault in the whole Incident  </p>
<p>“A crazy one… but still one, you don’t have to worry about it,” Hikage reassures the girl.</p>
<p>“But, seriously, what should I do?” Hibiki asks after a moment of silence being watched by her two saviors and currently guardians.</p>
<p>“Well, I would like to ask you, what do you want to do, Hibiki?” Hikage counters.</p>
<p>Hibiki frown at the question. “I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking,” she replies a bit flustered.</p>
<p>“Okay, more like this then. You currently have the power to stand up against what was now labeled as a natural disaster, every consequence and other things aside what would you want to do?” Hikage asks once more, elaborating her question in another way.</p>
<p>Hibiki understood this time, Hikage-san is not asking her to make a decision based on what she thought would cause less problems to them. But based on what she wants, discarding the consequences, acting simply and purely selfishly, knowing that both will back her up in her decision.</p>
<p>And so, it’s what she did, she took her time to really think about it. The Noise is the reason why her life was turned upside down and while she hates them for that, she never thought about taking revenge on them more than happy to just being alive and the simple thought being silly enough when just touching one would lead to your own death. But now is different, she has the power to fight them, she has the <strong>only</strong> power to kill them with them unable to do pretty much anything to her, the tables truly have turned on them now, at least when she is concerned.</p>
<p>She also remembers what put her in this situation in the first place; saving the girl. She heard a cry for help and rushed without much thinking to help. When she had the possibility to fight back, she chooses the safety of the girl first rather than lunge toward the Noise. Even when she was able to fight them after she was safe she didn’t stop thinking about her, checking every once in the while if one Noise didn’t sneak past her.</p>
<p>“Actually, you don’t have to give us an answer right away,” Hikage says suddenly, cutting out the screen as well as snapping Hibiki out of her own thought. “Everything happened moments ago and you barely have time to process your situation as well as what I just told you, I will send you the related info about the Symphogear System, Section Two and some other reports that should be useful to you. Just take the night off to let everything sink a bit and think about it with a clear head.”</p>
<p>Hibiki was secretly relieved, the tension in her body that she didn’t even know was there suddenly flew away hearing Hikage’s words. Her mind was really in shambles, from learning her the origin of her power to the secret purpose of the Zwei Wings Concert and the organization behind. It’s far too much to handle at once and she tried to come with an answer with a mind in this state… Anything she would have come up with could have only been because of the spur of the moment and could have led to regrets it later on.</p>
<p>She realizes how much Hikage’s words were really a godsend right now and she didn’t hesitate to take her up on her suggestion of getting ready to sleep and letting the night doing its job.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I should do that. Thank Hikage-san.” Hibiki says as she stands up from the couch before walking away from the two women in direction of her bedroom for a well-deserved rest. “Velvet-san, Hikage-san. Good night,” she announces with the older women each responding in kind before she opens the living room’s door and closes it behind her, heading to her bedroom.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hikage and Velvet follow with their eyes the girl exiting the living room. Once the sound of Hibiki’s bedroom door opening and closing reached their ears, Hikage hears her friend sighing heavily, head resting on the back of the couch while pinching the bridge of her nose with her bandaged hand before lamenting over the situation. “How can this girl attracts so much trouble around herself?”</p>
<p>Hikage makes her way toward her friend before sitting down by her side with the tablet resting on the side, elbows resting on her knees as her upper body leans forward, chin resting against her intertwined fingers and smiling fondly. “Well, this time it’s more the remnants of what happened before catching up to now, so we can’t really fault her for that.”</p>
<p>Velvet answers by groaning some more. “Doesn’t’ make the situation less troublesome.”</p>
<p>Hikage puts a hand on her friend’s thigh. “Don’t worry, I’m already thinking and making preparation for taking care of it,” Hikage’s says. “How about taking a bath to relax a bit, I will take care of the cleaning.”</p>
<p>“Then, I will take you on the offer,” Velvet replies before getting off of the couch and walking out of the living room, leaving Hikage alone in the silent piece.</p>
<p>Hikage took her tablet back, sending the different files and other information she promised to Hibiki before doing the same for Velvet after a moment of thinking. After finishing the task, she lets go of it before standing up, gathering empty cups and heading toward the kitchen to wash them as well as the dishes while humming a soft tune.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Unknown location</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>“My apologies, Commander. I lost track of the rogue Adapter.”</p>
<p>Kazanari Tsubasa was apologizing to a tall man. The man around 6,5ft and with short red spiky hair was Kazanari Genjūrō, the Commander of the Section Two of the Special Disaster Response Team as well as her uncle.</p>
<p>“Tell me in detail what exactly what happened Tsubasa.” The man demand.</p>
<p>“Like ordered, I headed toward the location of the Noise outbreak. Once there, I directly take action in engaging the group of Noise. After the fight I simply wait for the team to arrive, I didn’t engage in any conversation with the concerned girl until she was about to leave. Telling her to come with us to Section before she storms off, pushing her way through the agent surrounding her and jumping atop of a building with me giving chase afterward. I may have been a bit frustrated to not be able to catch up with her as I began attacking her to slow her down until something ominous, some kind of dark flash cut my path right in front of me and distracting me enough for me to lose track of her.”</p>
<p>The girl could only watch the Commander sigh at hearing her report, causing the blue-haired girl‘s anger to slowly rise inside her. The signal the organization receives aside from the one belonging to the Noise was Gungnir, the relic belonging to her deceased friend and partner Kanade. She managed to reign on her emotions during the whole time and was looking forward to the answers they could get about the meaning of all this by interrogating the person wielding the relic. But for the latter to simply leave the scene without even telling her name, even worse, despite being what should have been her first time donning her gear, she displays an agility as if it was natural, to the point she couldn’t catch with her despite <strong>years</strong> of using her own Symphogear and even attacking to slow her down end up without success.</p>
<p>“And with nothing on her to hint at her identity, finding her will prone to be very difficult,” the Commander adds, earning a nod from the wielder.</p>
<p>“Actually we were quite lucky in this department, Commander,” came another voice.</p>
<p>Both Kazanari, turn they head toward the newcomer. In front of them was a man in a black suit, 5,9ft tall with short brown hair. It was Ogawa Shinji another member of Section Two as well as Tsubasa’s manager.</p>
<p>“Ogawa. What did you find?”</p>
<p>“I was listening to the girl telling her mother what happen to her, how a really kind ‘Onee-chan’ came to her rescue. I tried to retrace their path and found this on the top of a building,” he shows a familiar dark grey cardigan. “And got this from the cleaners on another location,” he then shows an also familiar two shade of browns bag.</p>
<p>Both items were Lydian standard attire for the students, meaning that the identity of the rogue wielder is a student going to this school directly affiliated to them, making the research far easier than looking blindly in the whole city.</p>
<p>“We found the ID in it and already research the name in our databases. Tachibana Hibiki, a first-year student, I already check with Tomosato-san and she was able to confirm it’s the same girl. We could send someone to her house, she’s currently living in Tokyo,” Shinji proposes after sharing the information he gathers.</p>
<p>“Let’s avoid that, her leaving the scene without saying anything and even willing to fight her way out could be seen as much as her stand toward us or her being careful. If we send someone knocking at her door it could harden it,” The Commander begins before looking at his niece. “Tsubasa.”</p>
<p>“Yes!” The idol responds, back straight as she is waiting for her next order.</p>
<p>“Take Tachibana Hibiki’s belongings, you will give it to her principal teacher first thing tomorrow’s morning with a message that you want to speak to her at the end of the day on one on one, it would be better if you can convey the message directly to her but the teacher will have to do if you can’t. That should put her more at ease in those conditions, then invite her once more to Section Two, don’t push too much if she refuses, just let her know we have most of the answers to what exactly happened to her and the means to know the rest.</p>
<p>“Understood,” Tsubasa replies to her order. “In this case, I will take my leave,” she adds, taking the bag and cardigan from her manager and heading back to the elevator.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As the two men watch the idols leaving the room, Shinji was the one to break the silence after the wielder was gone. “Should I look into the girl and her entourage?”</p>
<p>“Just the regular stuff. We don’t know how she could react if we look too deeply, from what Tsubasa said despite being her first time she moved with the Symphogear as if it was natural, either it was not her first time or she familiarized with it extraordinarily fast. In any case, let’s not do anything that could antagonize her until we know more about her.</p>
<p>“Understood, Commander. I will then go ahead as well,” the manager says before making his departure.</p>
<p>“I’m counting on you Ogawa,” the taller man says, watching him leave the same way his niece did. “Gungnir, huh?” he then mutters absently the name of the relic that he didn’t expect to see again. <em>‘I hope everything will work out for the better,’</em> He thought before heading toward the person who should already be looking at the data and forming theory as the existence of another Gungnir Symphogear.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Hibiki was groaning as the back of her head hit her pillow. Despite her words earlier, saying she will turn in, she was still wide awake, she thought about reading the information she received on her tablet from Hikage-san, specifically on the Symphogear System part, but, in doing so she had only aroused her interest, keeping herself awake as well as looking forward to tomorrow to test out the content she just read.</p>
<p>It then occurred to her that with her schoolbag lost, she doesn’t have any of her schoolbooks for tomorrow and that she would need an emergency mean for her lessons. Eyes landing on her tablet in her hands and Hibiki realizes she already has what she needs as a temporary solution, just needs the agreement of her teacher. Which should not be too difficult, hopefully.</p>
<p>Noticing it was getting really late, Hibiki turns off her tablet, grab her wireless earbuds. After putting them in her ears, she then uses her phone to launch her playlist. As the sound of piano begins to flood her mind, she switches off the light before laying down on her bed, tucks under covers and begins to doze off as she closes her eyes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>While Hibiki was finally able to fall asleep, Hikage was still in the living room. After taking care of the dishes, she was now back on the couch, seated cross-legged in the lotus position, her tablet in one hand while nursing a beer. She didn’t avert her eyes from it, not even when the soft sound of her friend’s steps was coming closer and closer.</p>
<p>“What are you doing now?” Velvet asks as she leans her crossed arm on the back of the couch, a hand holding a brown wooden comb while she was looking at the screen of Hikage’s tablet.</p>
<p>It’s at this question that Hikage turns her eyes away from the little screen to look at her best friend. She could tell that Velvet’s hair was untied and probably a bit moist at some places, not really surprising with their length, the comb in her hand telling her what the main cook of the house was planning to do.</p>
<p>“Looking at the current plan of the whole floor and making a list of things I will need for the few changes I will make to it,” Hikage answers, eyes back on the tablet.</p>
<p>Not moving from her spot, Velvet asks her next question. “What are you planning of doing?”</p>
<p>“Not much, just a special training room for Hibiki to be able to train with the Symphogear without alerting Section Two as well as another room to monitor the effect of activating the relic will have on her physically. I already have the data from Section Two, so pulling it off shouldn’t be too difficult.”</p>
<p>Velvet lets out a sigh, “‘Not much’ you says, as if we didn’t have enough room on the floor already. Do we even have the space for those, first?”</p>
<p>“That’s why I’m checking the plans. But, not really. Though it will not be a big issue, I will just expand the training room and link it with the special one. And maybe doing the same with my lab for the other one.”</p>
<p>Another look at her friend’s screen show Velvet that what Hikage’s was doing rather than adding was just updating the existence plans, a closer look at it and she realize that the current plans were already expanded, Hikage was only making small adjustments to it. “You were already planning on making them, don’t you?” Velvet asks, looking flat at the profile of the other women.</p>
<p>They lock eyes for a moment before Hikage gives in. “Fine, yeah I did, at least for the special training room. Also, it’s not like I would have been the only one to use it, you could make use of it too if you want.”</p>
<p>“And what for?” Velvet obviously asks.</p>
<p>“You know for what,” Hikage replied while wriggling her visible eyebrow. “How long it has been since with did go at each without holding back?”</p>
<p>“Speak for yourself, I don’t have any issues in not fighting anymore.”</p>
<p>“Say the one training constantly with Hibiki under the guise of teaching her. Even if you don’t want to go back to this life, you can’t deny the desire of wanting to fight something that could make you work a real sweat.” Hikage argues, grinning.</p>
<p>Velvet could only let a resigned sigh. “Whatever” she answers while turning her head to the side. While what’s Hikage said was true, it doesn’t mean that she had to admit it.</p>
<p>“Also, it should not take long for Hibiki to think she is stronger than us with the Symphogear. And when it would happen and that she will need a reminder as well as coming to the realization that she is still far, being able to do so without worrying about destroying stuff will be useful. Also, we will need to remind her to not rely on the power too much and neglect basic training.”</p>
<p>“I fairly doubt the latter will occur” Velvet retorts</p>
<p>“Me as well,” Hikage agrees before following. “Anyway, want me to comb your hair?”</p>
<p>A little put out by the sudden change of subject, Velvet quickly recovers and gives her answer. “Gladly.”</p>
<p>“Then, come here,” the older woman of the two says, patting a spot on the couch, putting her tablet away and shifting her legs for a better position.”</p>
<p>As she makes her way around the couch, Hikage got a full view of her friend’s attire, she was wearing a simple long-sleeved white dress shirt buttoned just enough to close it as well as exposing a decent amount of cleavage, the hems of the shirt resting on her hips barely exposing the panties she wore.</p>
<p>While this vision is certainly not new to Hikage, it certainly doesn’t diminish the fact that her best friend is drop-dead gorgeous. As her friend settles in front of her on the couch, she then hands her the wooden comb that Hikage wordlessly takes before beginning the process of combing her friend’s luxurious hair.</p>
<p>Neither of them uttering a single word, enjoying the comfortable silence during this simple routine done for decades by now.</p>
<p>Velvet is the one breaking the silence. “So, tomorrow is the day you will reunite with our lifelong friend and ‘boss’.”</p>
<p>“It is, we will surely talk a bit about the old days and then see what mission he has for me and how urgent it is as well as what kind of preparation I would need before going back home.”</p>
<p>“I honestly can’t believe he is still alive, he was already over a hundred when we left,” Velvet says in slight astonishment.</p>
<p>“This man just never learned how to die or maybe simply forget how, he was still in top physical condition at that time.”</p>
<p>“You think he still is?” Velvet asks.</p>
<p>“I would not be surprised, but I will tell you this tomorrow after seeing him.”</p>
<p>Another silence stretches out, Hikage’s hands performing still the same movements, running her fingers through the mass of hair at times, just to feel it before combing them once more.</p>
<p>Velvet is the one to once more break the silence. “Don’t you think we should have told her about where we worked before?”</p>
<p>“She already has a lot on her plate with her own situation, also knowing <strong>what</strong> our work was exactly as well as <strong>where</strong> could influence her decision. So let’s not tell her until she makes hers.”</p>
<p>Velvet hums softly at the reasoning before voicing another interrogation. “You think she will join them?”</p>
<p>“Not sure you?”</p>
<p>Velvet scoffs. “If she comes to the same conclusion I did for her, she will. Just listening to her, pretty much gave away that she really did enjoy the situation when in the middle of it in some way, she was not scared one bit, think rather rationally and got herself out of it when things could have taken a really bad turn for her.”</p>
<p>“Indeed, there is also the whole girl saving. Prioritizing the safety of the citizen over fighting the threat right away, only dealing with it when put in a rather safe place.”</p>
<p>“She is still willing to extend her hand to others despite what she did go through in her past.”</p>
<p>“She is, but while she knows that there are kind peoples, the contrary is also true and if facing by it she is confident in herself to be able to deal with it on her own. It’s mostly how it went her last year, willing to extend her hand to anyone, but not hesitate to take it back when she have to. We really play a big part in her current behavior I think.”</p>
<p>“We did, she sound a bit like you when talking about the weakness of the Noise.” Velvet says, not hesitating to blame her friend for the girl’s behavior.</p>
<p>“An opponent dying in one hit is no fun-“</p>
<p>“Unless you have it in sheer number,” Velvet cuts and finishes the sentence of her friend. “And that’s what she got, she was surely more upset at how soon she finished them off instead of their physical weakness. What she will do then is pretty obvious to me.”</p>
<p>“She will soon enough come to the realization that joining Section Two means the chance to fight again the Noise again and again. And with me going back to work, I can keep an eye on her, so we will not need to be worry that much about her,” Hikage confirms Velvet thought as she finishes combing her partner’s hair.</p>
<p>“Exactly. Then with this out of the way,” Velvet trails off as she moves from her position to straddle Hikage’s thighs and putting her arms around her neck. “How about we have some fun before your schedule became as hectic as it was when we were both on active duty and that’s you come home with the scent of blood on you,” she says in a sultry voice.</p>
<p>“You never mind the scent before, so what gives?”</p>
<p>“That was because we were never far from a battlefield where blood will inevitably be on us, but now after years without it, I come to enjoy far better scents, even taste better without it.” Velvet continues, her voice lads with lust the more she talks.</p>
<p>Internally agreeing with her, Hikage gives a chaste kiss on her friend’s lips before asking. “Yours or mines?”</p>
<p>“Yours,” Velvet answers kissing back. “I like waking up the next morning in your room wondering which plushies will greet me first.”</p>
<p>Hikage could only laugh at the reason followed by her partner as they share another kiss, this one more passionate as Hikage begins to lift herself from the couch, her arms hugging Velvet’s waist as the latter lock her legs behind her partner lower back.</p>
<p>Doors opening and closing behind them until they reach the bed for their night of passion.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Note</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I'm making this update to announce that this story will be on hold for a while.</p>
<p>I know in which direction I want the story to head, but I'm still fumbling over side events that I want to implement to involve more my OCs in the story.</p>
<p>Also wanted to implement precise periods of time during the story with dates.</p>
<p>Thank for reading so far.</p>
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